Stocks Bounce after Weak Open // SPY Remains In Trend // IWM Continues to Lead // XLE and XLI are in the Spotlight //// .... Stocks Bounce after Weak Open By now we are all aware of the big miss in the employment report. This miss triggered strong buying pressure in Treasury bonds and Treasury... READ MORE
Sina (SINA) has just seen its SCTR rank break above 70 as its price has broken above multiple tops near 52. Volume on the breakout was very strong, topping 3 million shares for the first time since July 2015. Any period of selling or consolidation should hold support that now... READ MORE
While our timing models remain bullish, and the market continues to make marginal new highs, I have been looking for a bull market top since the monthly PMO topped in late 2014 and then crossed down through its signal line in early-2015. Well, that price top has not yet materialized,... READ MORE
Hello Fellow ChartWatchers! The markets continue to move sideways with declining volume - both in the long-term view and in the short-term view. Since April, the Dow has been content to drift aimlessly between 17,500 and 18,000. Similarly, the S&P 500 is vacillating between roughly 2050... READ MORE
Friday's job report of only 38,000 jobs created in May was the weakest in more than five years. And it pretty much shocked everyone. Some of the market reactions, however, were reasonably predictable. Interest rate yields tumbled along the entire yield curve. Chart 1 shows the 10-Year... READ MORE
* Market reacts to bad news with a nothing-burger and that’s bullish * NYA Coppock goes bullish * NYSE A/D Line at all-time high * Pretty well all sectors pointing north * Those interest rates Market reacts to bad news with a nothing-burger and that’s bullish In my book Investment Psychology Explained,... READ MORE
Over the past month, the Dow Jones U.S. Semiconductor Index ($DJUSSC) has risen more than 8% and helped to strengthen the technology sector (XLK) relative to the S&P 500. The XLK has been very strong on a relative basis since the middle of 2013 and just recently... READ MORE
The stock market can be quite mystifying. Depending on the mood of the market, good news can be interpreted as bad news, bad news can be seen as good news and every once in a while good news and bad news are seen just as described. It's one... READ MORE
WEAKEST JOB REPORT IN FIVE YEARS SURPRISES EVERYONE... Friday's job report of only 38,000 jobs created in May was the weakest in more than five years. And it pretty much shocked everyone. Some of the market reactions, however, were reasonably predictable. Interest rate yields tumbled along the... READ MORE
Even though the Utilities SPDR (XLU) has been underperforming SPY since February, it sports the strongest chart of the nine sector SPDRs. How can that be? XLU is the only sector to hit a 52-week high this week. The sector cannot be that weak when it is trading at a... READ MORE
The S&P 500 hit overhead resistance at the April high and has stalled. If you look at the 10-minute bar chart for the past 10 days, you can see that price has been consolidating for over a week and has failed to overcome resistance. As this consolidation started,... READ MORE
My first teaching assignment at Golden Gate University was the survey course, FI352 ‘Technical Analysis of Securities’. This course is devoted to the study of the major technical analysis methods. It is a wonderful course for becoming familiar with the vast body of knowledge that is technical analysis. When I... READ MORE
Put your hands up if you can remember the big money we made in the ‘Nifty Fifty' – those stocks from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Or what about the Four Horsemen from 1999 to 2001? The famous FANG stocks of 2015 – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google – had many of the... READ MORE
SystemTrader // Crossing Over to the Dark Side! // Key Performance Metrics // Setting the Benchmark // Quantifying the Golden Cross // Risk-adjusted Returns versus Drawdowns // Winners versus Losers // Ratio Metrics // Backtesting Even Further I have scrutinized charts for years, if not decades, and now I am making a step towards quantitative analysis. The Dark... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, June 2, 2016 It was mostly a broad based rally on Thursday as all of our major indices finished higher. Seven of nine sectors ended the day higher as well, with technology (XLK, -0.09%) and energy (XLE, -0.13%) the two weak links. Key areas... READ MORE
Today's signal change probably isn't too surprising given the pesky correction that has been plaguing Gold. The question is whether it has arrived late to the party given that price seems to have found short-term support at the October 2015 high. A look at all three... READ MORE
U.S. HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS ISHARES ... In my message posted earlier today, I showed a number of healthcare providers that are having a strong day, including Aetna (AET), Centene (CNC), Humana (HUM), and Unitedhealth Group (UNH). I want to point out here that an ETF is available to cover that group... READ MORE
HEALTH CARE SPDR NEARS APRIL HIGH... Healthcare stocks continue to gain ground despite a generally soft stock market. Chart 1 shows the Health Care SPDR (XLV) trading higher today and nearing a test of its April high. The XLV/SPX ratio (top of chart) continues to gain ground as well.... READ MORE
The S&P 500 continues to battle overhead price resistance that's been well established since closing at its all-time high on May 21, 2015. While a bullish advance typically requires strong and wide participation from many sectors and industry groups, there's one that I'... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, June 1, 2016 Consumer staples (XLP, +1.03%) surged higher on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the other sectors didn't get the memo. Seven of the nine sectors did finish higher, but healthcare (XLV, +0.36%) was a distant second and the two sectors finishing in the... READ MORE
Small and Mid Caps Lead // SPY and QQQ Remain In Trend // IWM Leads with Higher High // Utes and Staples Lag, but don't Exactly Drag // Technology Leads New High List // HACK Challenges Prior Highs // 10-YR Treasury Yield Winds Tight // A Small Decline on High Volume // 10 Stocks with Bullish... READ MORE
HEALTH CARE SPDR SHOWS RELATIVE STRENGTH ... With stocks encountering some selling at the start of June, healthcare stocks are showing more resilience. That may be due to the fact the heathcare stocks have defensive characteristics. It may also have to do with the fact that healthcare stocks are starting to... READ MORE
Oracle broke above its 200-day moving average back in early March and then pulled back over the last ten weeks. There are signs that this pullback is ending because Aroon Up just surged above Aroon Down. Developed by Tushar Chande, Aroon means "dawn's early light" in... READ MORE
Note Today's article will be very brief with a recap of Tuesday's action. I'll return to my normal time and format on Wednesday. If you'd like to receive all of my blog articles the moment they're published, please scroll to... READ MORE
From the dictionary: Why – a noun - a reason or explanation. I’m going to write a few articles on why technical analysis is valuable – I’m calling it the WHY series. I spent 15 years in front of advisors at the large wire houses and insurance companies selling them... READ MORE
Below is the current status of the DecisionPoint Scoreboards. You'll note in the Scoreboard from April (purple) that there were only a few changes that occurred by month-end. The most interesting would be the two new BUY signals on the NDX. The Dow now has the most negative... READ MORE
* The bullish reverse dominos * Chinese ETF’s * PEK or FXI? * What would a Chinese rally mean for US equities * Chinese short interest The Chinese equity market as reflected in the Shanghai Composite $SSEC has fallen by close to 50 % from the 5166 level on the June 2015 high to its... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, May 27, 2016 On a 10 minute chart, the S&P 500 bounced off its 50 period SMA and surged into the close, finishing near the 2100 level once again. Here's the latest intraday look at our benchmark index: The attempt at clearing... READ MORE
4 AD Lines Hitting New Highs // SPY Surges with Gaps // Using CCI and StochRSI Together (XLI example) // QQQ Leads with Highest CCI Reading // 5 Sectors Spring to Life // 3 Industry Group Breakouts to Watch // XME and GDX Become Short-term Oversold // Oil & Gas Equip & Services SPDR Holds Support Bounce... READ MORE
The Dow Jones U.S. Exploration & Production Index ($DJUSOS) is 39% higher since its January low and two mid-cap stocks that are outperforming include $4 billion QEP Resources (QEP) and $2.9 billion WPX Energy (WPX). They have both been overbought recently and now have printed negative divergences, but... READ MORE
This week Nike, Inc. (NKE) officially entered a bear market when the 50EMA dropped below the 200EMA, the first time in over three years. While this is my nominal definition of a bear market, it is useful as an objective measure of price performance, and it is similar to the... READ MORE
The Relative Rotation Graph below holds the constituents of the Materials sector (XLB) and shows the relative rotation of these stocks against XLB. FCX and NEM stand out on this chart, way out to the right, indicating that they are the two stocks with the strongest relative trends at the... READ MORE
Trading the stock market is not the blood sport that many in the press portray it to be. That sentiment is just part and parcel of Wall Street’s sophisticated disinformation machine which preaches a familiar old sermon to individual investors. The market pitch goes something like this: “the market... READ MORE
Let’s continue our discussion of scanning the market with a top down approach. Recall that we proposed a process of first evaluating the stock market (S&P 500), followed by the Sectors and then the Industry Groups. With a quick scan the best and the worst Sectors and... READ MORE
SPY Volatility Expansion is Bullish // High-Low Lines Turn Back Up // Mid-caps Lead New High List // Sectors Reflect Broad Market Strength // Consumer Discretionary is the Only Weak Link // EW Technology ETF Challenges Highs // Staples and Utilities Stall within Uptrends // Friday Food For Thought //// .... SPY Volatility Expansion is Bullish Last Friday I... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, May 26, 2016 Utilities (XLU, +1.13%) and consumer staples (XLP, +0.40%) are two defensive groups and they led the market action on Thursday. I'd be more concerned if these two groups led a significant breakout. But given that three of our four... READ MORE
With the market rallying and new Price Momentum Oscillator (PMO) signals moving to BUY signals, I decided to do one of my PMO scans. This particular scan looks for stocks/ETFs with PMOs that have been rising for three days and have just had a 5/20-EMA positive crossover today.... READ MORE
SunTrust Banks (STI) looks very bullish on a longer-term weekly chart, awaiting a critical technical breakout. But on its daily chart, there are signs of slowing momentum and overbought conditions as price resistance nears. So what's a trader to do? Well, let's look at the two... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, May 25, 2016 Energy (XLE, +1.58%), materials (XLB, +1.23%) and financials (XLF, +1.06%) were the three sectors that gained more than 1% on Wednesday as the U.S. stock market rally extended to almost a week. The S&P 500 climbed to... READ MORE
Small and Micros Lead the Way // Sector Performance Says Risk On // Gaps Fuel the Breakouts in QQQ, SPY and IWM // Materials and Finance Lead Sector SPDRs // Equal-weight Finance Leads with Higher High // Metals & Mining SPDR Gets Momentum Pop // Oil & Gas Equip & Services SPDR Surges off Support // Scanning... READ MORE